Family marks 1-year anniversary of Eric Garner’s death

Protesters headed to Staten Island, the New York City borough where Garner, a 43-year-old black father of six, died last July 17 after New York police put him in a banned chokehold.

NEW YORK >> Protesters marked the anniversary of Eric Garner’s chokehold death Friday with rallies and marches, echoing demonstrations just after his death that helped fuel a national conversation about policing.

“They treated my husband like an animal”, widow Esaw Garner said.

The debate about police treatment of minorities intensified in the month following Garner’s death, after a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed, black teenager.

A grand jury in Staten Island failed to indict PO Pantaleo when Daniel Donovan prosecuted the case. A federal civil rights investigation is also ongoing. To mark the one year anniversary of her father’s death, she’s keeping a busy schedule that leaves little time for the solitude of grief.

The past year has become a whirlwind of activism for the Garner family, who attend and speak at rallies and candlelight vigils in commemoration of other victims of police violence.

For their part, Garner’s family have said they aren’t done pushing for justice.

“The settlement that we got isn’t a victory”, said Garner’s mother, Carr.

“This is a new chapter in our relationship between the police and our communities”, de Blasio said. More people understand that now because they have seen it with their own eyes on video. Pantaleo says he used a legal takedown maneuver known as a seatbelt, not a chokehold.

The New York Daily News called the settlement a “measure of the only justice that may be available” to the family and called the amount a “reasonable recognition” of the family’s loss, saying that the family would have “no doubt” won in a civil trial.

“The congressman has also said he will look at all criminal justice reform measures with an open mind and weigh each one on the merits; however, it is often said that hard cases make bad laws and we must be judicious with any potential changes to a criminal justice system that is the best in the world”, a spokeswoman said.

The NYPD arrested one rally demonstrator in the early evening, but did not respond to Sputnik’s request for comment regarding the details of the arrest. Some, like police union leaders and Bratton himself, thought the scrutiny unfair – bemoaning the Black Lives Matter movement.

It’s been a year since New York police confronted Eric Garner for allegedly selling loose cigarettes.

“That’s why I watched it it over and over – even though it’s terrorizing”, she said. He argues the settlement is too generous considering that Garner’s poor health may have contributed to his death.

A video of Garner’s death filmed by a bystander served as a catalyst for a year of public scrutiny of police violence in minority communities.